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nice work, here is the parts catalog pic for the airbag stuff
Thanks, I'm not sure if I'll bother to restore the airbag system. Best I can tell, I'm missing the front sensors circled in yellow in the annotated diagram below, and I think I'm missing that yellow highlighted wiring harness, unless it's tucked under the fender somehow? Is any of that stuff still available from Mazda and how spendy is it?
For the time being though, I really need to deactivate the "live" bag in my Nardi wheel so it can't accidentally deploy itself at random! Any thoughts on how to do that? IIRC, I think the connector on the airbag has a shorting plug that you substitute for the harness connector so the airbag can be safely handled & shipped?
Stuff I'm missing is highlighted in yellow in diagram.
i think you could just unplug it? to ship an airbag, Mazda would have us deploy it first, which was always exciting.
the end setup, was to put it face up in one of the cages the parts come in, with a cartoon spec lead to the box with the handle on it. its a big bang, usually it would clear out the building as people came to see what that noise was (the service driveway had a roof that was kind of low too, so trucks would occasionally hit it)
the first setup was to put the airbag face down, and set it off, which had it go ~40 feet up in the air and come down next door on a bunch of new Dodges, that was over 30 years ago, they are still mad about that one!
You can remove the charge from the airbag if you are concern about accidental deployment, they are hold down by 4x 7mm nuts. Just be mindful when you press the horn if you do remove the charge, because the housing is now hollow so it might dent if you press too hard.
You can remove the charge from the airbag if you are concern about accidental deployment, they are hold down by 4x 7mm nuts. Just be mindful when you press the horn if you do remove the charge, because the housing is now hollow so it might dent if you press too hard.
Thanks for the tip. For now I just disconnected the airbag electrical connector and secured it out or the way. As the FSM excerpt in the previous post shows, simply disconnecting the connector shorts the airbag's electrical terminals, so you'll never have any electrical charge/voltage across them to cause the bag to deploy.
Years ago when I disconnected mine, I'd read up enough about airbags deploying accidentally when disconnected that I got paranoid and wore my helmet and neck roll to do it, lol.
I finally got around to painting & finishing up building the RC FD that my son got me for Christmas! Here's some pictures of the finished build.
Front view, lights off Front view, lights ON. Hard to see here but the amber turn signals are washed out by brighter white LED driving lights Front 3/4 view, lights on Rear 3/4 view, lights on
Plan was to paint this to match my real FD, but that wasn't too easy since the PO painted my FD in a custom blended color - a shade of Honda "nighthawk black" that was blended with a purple pigment instead of the OEM dark blue pigment recipe. After lots of searching on the internet, I found what I though would be a pretty close approximation in the form of a rattle can touch-up paint used on 2009~2012ish Jaguar F-types called Amethyst Black, paint code PVS. From the pictures I've seen, that color looks very similar to my FD - pure black when it's cloudy out, but the dark purple pops out when the sun hits it. Looks better on metal than it does on a plastic RC car though, which looks more like a shiny black.
The stickers for the windows were a PITA to apply, and I managed to bugger up the rear hatch glass - that can be fixed later with some dark smoke window tint trimmed to fit. I also decided to build this with the pop-up lids down (kit has you building it with the pop-up lids up), and I modified the light kit so it would illuminate just the tails & '99 spec front driving lights.
Wow, it's been a year since I last posted here - it's nice when everything works and I don't have much to post about here! Spent most of the year just enjoying & maintaining the FD, which is currently in winter hibernation with my FC - when the road salt is gone, it'll be back on the road.
As far as new projects on my FD, I just completed the power window relay mod using the DEI 451m's. Each DEI 451m consists of a pair of DPDT 20A relays packaged in a single plastic case with a wire pigtail, making the relay mod wiring pretty easy. There's a pretty extensive write-up on using the DEI 451m to implement the relay mod in the 2nd gen section, which I've done years ago on my FC. Other than different wire colors, the basic concept is the same for the FD. For those interested, I attached a schematic diagram of the modified wiring that I made to document the mod on my '93 USDM FD. Why would one mod the OEM power window circuit by adding relays you might ask? It's because the OEM design is flawed - it forces the full PW motor current to run thru those puny PW switch contact points. As a result, the switches contact points do eventually burn out, rendering the windows dead, but before it gets to that point, you'll notice the windows operating slowly going up or down. My windows were getting slow, especially the passenger side, so it was time to do this mod. They are lightning fast now, up or down in both doors
Here's some pictures:
This is the driver's side door. That little black box is the DEI 451m, and I sourced mating connectors for the OEM motor connectors from Corsa Technic so this mod is completely reversible/plug & play.
Driver's door done - I had to use some Tyvek tape to stick the plastic barrier back on the door, because the black goo had lost its "sticky" in some places. Same deal in the passenger door...
Another issue I needed to tackle while the door trim was off was squeaks & rattles - my door cards had all of the "pins" intact at the top edges that are supposed to mate with the plastic inserts at the top of the door sheet metal, but several of my inserts were missing/busted.Thanks to Spalato for posting up this thread https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...-pins-1163306/ and sharing his 3d print files, and my son for printing me a batch of door pin inserts, my door cards now fit more securely. You can see one of the new plastic door pin inserts (orange) in the picture above. Haven't driven it yet since then, but I expect at least some of the squeaks & rattles will be gone!
Finally, my FD was due for brake maintenance, so I replaced all of the pads with Hawk HPS pads, and replaced front rotors with Brembo OEM replacements & the rear rotors with Centric OEM replacement rotors. Also flushed & air bled the brake hydraulic system as well. While I was in there, I figured I may as well paint the calipers - I went with a POR15 gloss black caliper paint, and for raised MAZDA lettering on the front calipers, I used some POR15 silver caliper paint that I had left over from when I did my FC's brakes. More pictures...
These look pretty good! The rears look good too, but not as sexy as the fronts!
Last edited by Pete_89T2; Feb 11, 2025 at 06:50 PM.
An informative and interesting update Pete. Got me thinkin' about finally fixing those sloth power windows. The schematic diagram is money, as usual... thanks! Any chance you'd post details on the connectors? I moseyed over to Cora Technic looking for them with no joy.
An informative and interesting update Pete. Got me thinkin' about finally fixing those sloth power windows. The schematic diagram is money, as usual... thanks! Any chance you'd post details on the connectors? I moseyed over to Cora Technic looking for them with no joy.
Sure Carlos, you'll need a set of these guys, one set per door:
^This one mates with the OEM switch/harness side of the OEM connector
When ordering the connectors, make sure you get the correct size crimp terminals for them - the relay trigger wires on the DEI 451m's use skinny 20-ish AWG wire (these connect to the OEM switch side). The DEI 451m wires that connect to the motor side look to be about 14~12 AWG.
That's normally my go-to approach, and what I was going to do this time around, until I realized the wire gauge differences in the DEI 451m would have meant I'd need DTM's to deal with the 20AWG wires, and DT series connectors for the 14~12 AWG wires. And doing so would have made it impossible to do a plug & play revert to OEM wiring - DTMs don't mate with DT series.
So one I've jobs I've procrastinated on my FD was building an effective heat shield to keep the LIM cool. I already fitted a PTP "Lava" turbo blanket, and wrapped my DP with lava wrap, but felt I needed to do more. Ended up fabricating a LIM heat shield out of flexible mica, which has excellent heat insulating properties and can withstand contact temps over 1800*F - perfect material for fitting in the tight confines between my turbine & LIM front runner. My post linked here in the single turbo section details more of the "how to" info, https://www.rx7club.com/single-turbo.../#post12636717
Basically it's 4 layers of 0.032 inch thick mica riveted to a simple 1/16 inch thick aluminum frame, here's pictures of the end result:
Mica heat shield installed before re-installing the PTP Lava turbo blanket Close up of the tight spot by the front LIM runner - this is why I made this with flexible mica sheet laminate vs. a rigid 1/4" or 1/8" thick mica sheet Finished install with the turbo blanket. Unfortunately, manhandling that blanket back in buggered up the turbo's oil supply line, which created a small oil leak.... So rather than flaring & fabricating another hard oil supply line, I decided to just buy a pre-fabbed 20 inch Fragola AN-4 line. Done!
Early Christmas & upcoming Winter Hibernation Projects...
So I just picked up a new Link G5 Neo-4 ECU. BTW, if any of you are looking to buy a Link ECU or associated Link accessories, I highly recommend reaching out to Howard Coleman, who is now a Link dealer & a forum vendor. https://www.rx7club.com/coleman-prec...-link-1169346/
The Link G4+ Fury that came with my FD when I bought it is perfectly capable or running the car, and has worked flawlessly for me, but I just couldn't resist the additional capabilities the G5 brings to the table. The G4+ is 2 generations behind the G5, and the big selling point for me was the G5 having dedicated multiple processors significantly improves all the closed loop control functions, and ECU logging speed & capacity by several orders of magnitude as compared to the G4+. For a DIY tuner like myself who doesn't have easy/cheap access to a dyno, the improved data logging capabilities will just make my road tuning sessions so much more efficient.
The wiring modifications required for me to upgrade from my old G4+ are minimal because Link didn't change too much on the I/O pin-outs between generations, and both ECUs use the same 34 pin Super Seal connectors. Porting my G4+ tune into the G5 is a bit tedious because you can't just mash a button and be done with it, but it's mostly a simple cut & paste operation between the two versions of Link's PCLink tuning software. Physically, the G5 Neo-4 is a little bigger & heftier than the G4+, so I'll have to revise my mounting brackets a bit. To future-proof my ECU, I also picked up a CANchecked MCE18v3 I/O expansion box, which allows me to feed 9 more analog inputs, 7 more digital inputs, and 3 on/off type outputs via CAN bus. More on why I need more I/O later, here's some pictures:
Box it comes in, with a magnetic catch no less Unpacked - In the middle is the G5 Neo-4 ECU, and in plastic bags the USB tuning cable & GPS antenna with cable. Loose above the GPS antenna bag is the WiFi antenna Business end of the G5 Neo-4 - the 2x 34 pin header connectors, and connectors for GPS & WiFi antennas, one of the 2x CAN bus connections, Ethernet & USB tuning cable
And here's the CANchecked MCE18v3 I/O Expansion box.
So getting my new ECU physically mounted, wired and porting my G4+ tune over to the G5 is the first thing I'll be doing during my FD's winter hibernation. Since I'm taking the FC to Deals Gap next spring, I won't be in a rush to getting the FD all done before then, so I decided to pull the trigger on a new turbo manifold for it - the CPR Low Drag Turbo Manifold. Along with the manifold will be a new 60mm Tial WG, and a fabricated recirculated DP to complete the job. As part of this, I'll need to clock my turbo, and re-do the hot side IC piping and my cold air intake. So it'll be a busy winter & spring. Hopefully back on the road by summer! Details on the CPR manifold are here: CPR LOW DRAG TURBO MANIFOLD
I finally got around to painting & finishing up building the RC FD that my son got me for Christmas! Here's some pictures of the finished build. Rear 3/4 view, lights on
Plan was to paint this to match my real FD, but that wasn't too easy since the PO painted my FD in a custom blended color - a shade of Honda "nighthawk black" that was blended with a purple pigment instead of the OEM dark blue pigment recipe. After lots of searching on the internet, I found what I though would be a pretty close approximation in the form of a rattle can touch-up paint used on 2009~2012ish Jaguar F-types called Amethyst Black, paint code PVS. From the pictures I've seen, that color looks very similar to my FD - pure black when it's cloudy out, but the dark purple pops out when the sun hits it. Looks better on metal than it does on a plastic RC car though, which looks more like a shiny black.
The stickers for the windows were a PITA to apply, and I managed to bugger up the rear hatch glass - that can be fixed later with some dark smoke window tint trimmed to fit. I also decided to build this with the pop-up lids down (kit has you building it with the pop-up lids up), and I modified the light kit so it would illuminate just the tails & '99 spec front driving lights.
Where did you get the body? I have an M-06 Tamayia with an FB body on it, but I don't own an FB anymore. I've looked (albeit not very hard) for an FD body for my RC car, but couldn't find one.
Where did you get the body? I have an M-06 Tamayia with an FB body on it, but I don't own an FB anymore. I've looked (albeit not very hard) for an FD body for my RC car, but couldn't find one.
The FD body came with the Tamiya kit, which had the TT-02D chassis. I think my son picked it up at a local RC/hobby shop. Here's a photo of the box if it helps...
Post-Christmas update: Link G5 NEO-4 brain transplant is DONE!
Well what I thought would be a simple job to swap out a few pins in the Link ECU A & B header connectors and some minor revisions to the power connections to upgrade from my old G4+ Fury to the G5 NEO-4 turned out to be a fairly extensive re-package & re-wire job on the cabin side of the wiring harness. Main problem to solve was finding space for the ECU and the required re-route of its wiring. The old G4+ is physically a bit smaller than the new G5, so it was installed with all its connectors facing the firewall. But because of the case design of the G5 NEO-4 and my requirement to place it in the same space occupied by the OEM ECU, the G5 had to be oriented with its connectors facing upwards, which made for a very tight fit with the HVAC blower unit getting in the way. And I also needed to find space for the CANchecked MCE18 CAN nus I/O expansion unit and its wiring. That will be used later for some additional analog & digital inputs (EGTs, EMAP, water/meth injection control, etc.). Bottom line is I ended up rebuilding my ECU harness on the cabin side of the firewall, from the MIL spec bulkhead connector out to the 2x ECU header connectors and all the other wiring branches that come off that trunk. Working in that space sucks, but it was well worth the effort - I'm really liking the G5, and the capabilities it brings to the table! Anyway, here's some pictures of the installation...
This is a shot of the final mounting plate with G5 NEO-4 and MCE18 attached to it. All the extra holes are from iterative test fits that didn't quite work out Opposite side of the mounting plate, with added cable management for the MCE18 wiring. Here's a shot of the initial test fit of the G5 & MCE18 on its mounting plate. Concept looks promising, and deceptively easy... until I tried to connect wiring to it and couldn't get there from here This little space is where I put the relays. Originally there were 3x 40A Bosch relays & sockets there (Main EFI, Fuel Pump & DBW); now there are 2x physically larger 75A TE/AMP relays in that space (G5 has an internal DBW relay, so it no longer needs an external one). In this shot you can see the added power distro fuse block, which is secured to the 2x M6 studs in that cavity with M6 nuts. To the right of that is the other little cavity/recess where I installed the 2x 75A panel relays (Main EFI system & Fuel Pump), which mount to an aluminum mounting bracket I fabricated. Getting them to fit in that space without any wires/terminals shorting to ground anywhere was like an exercise in advanced Jenga origami. Here's the final install shot with EVERYTHING connected & operational - hard to see here in the tangled mess, but there's a WIFI antenna and a GPS antenna wiring (coiled excess GPS antenna cable in upper right) in there too. I mounted the tiny GPS puck antenna on the inside of the rear hatch glass, in the center by the roof so it gets a good view of the sky, and routed the antenna cable into the headliner, down the passenger B-pillar trim, along the door sill & into the kick panel area by the ECU. That Velcro banded black cable is the USB tuning cable, which I can do without now that I got the G5's WIFI connectivity working. And all that crap JUST FITS behind the OEM plastic trim!
And since the wiring re-do was so extensive, I had to document it all with a new schematic diagram. Like last time, I did this with a freeware electrical CAD program, TinyCAD. Drawing package is intended to be used as change pages to the Mazda FSM wiring/schematic diagrams, see attached PDF copy.
Last edited by Pete_89T2; Dec 27, 2025 at 10:54 AM.
That's normally my go-to approach, and what I was going to do this time around, until I realized the wire gauge differences in the DEI 451m would have meant I'd need DTM's to deal with the 20AWG wires, and DT series connectors for the 14~12 AWG wires. And doing so would have made it impossible to do a plug & play revert to OEM wiring - DTMs don't mate with DT series.
BTW, if any of you are looking to buy a Link ECU or associated Link accessories, I highly recommend reaching out to Howard Coleman, who is now a Link dealer & a forum vendor. https://www.rx7club.com/coleman-prec...-link-1169346/
